October 27th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PM SVANIDHI Yojana
2. Infantry Day
3. Agreement between India Post and United States Postal Service (USPS)
4. DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub
5. Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA)
6. DPE Facility at Port
7. National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET)
8. IndiGen programme

1. PM SVANIDHI Yojana

Context:

PM interacts with beneficiaries of PM SVANIDHI Yojana from UP.

To know more about PM SVANIDHI Yojana, check PIB dated June 1, 2020.

2. Infantry Day

What is Infantry Day?

• Infantry Day is observed on October 27 to mark the landing of the first Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 to push back Pakistan supported intruders.
• On October 26, 1947, the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh, signed the instrument of accession, making his state a part of the Indian dominion, and thus paving the day for Indian troops to be deployed in the state to fight against Pakistani invaders.
• Army establishments across the country mark ‘Infantry Day’ by paying homage to the thousands of infantry soldiers who have laid down their lives in the line of duty.
• As part of the Infantry Day celebrations, a ‘Wreath Laying’ ceremony was held at the National War Memorial to honour the martyrs of the Infantry, who made the supreme sacrifice on various battlefields in service of the nation.

Context:

PM extends greetings on the occasion of Infantry Day.

3. Agreement between India Post and United States Postal Service (USPS)

Context:

India Post and United States Postal Service (USPS) signs Agreement for Electronic Exchange of Customs Data related to postal shipments exchanged between the two countries.

Details:

• The agreement will make it possible to transmit and receive electronic data of international postal items prior to their physical arrival at the destination and would enable customs clearance of postal items in advance in line with the evolving global postal framework.
• This will also improve the performance of postal services in terms of reliability, visibility and security.
• The primary objective that will be served by this agreement is to facilitate ‘ease of exports’ for small and large exporters through postal channels from different parts of the country and will contribute towards making India an Export Hub for the world.
• Exchange of Electronic Advance Data (EAD) as per the Agreement will be a key driver towards promoting mutual trade with emphasis on the exports from different parts of India to the USA through postal channel considering that USA is a major destination of MSME products, gems & jewellery, pharmaceuticals and other local products from India.
• This will fulfil a major demand of the export industry to expedite customs clearances of export items.
• The USA is the top export destination for India (~17%) which is also reflected in the exchange of goods through the postal channel.

4. DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub

Context:

Union Education Minister virtually inaugurated the DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub.

About the DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub:

• DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub is a joint initiative by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India and the Centre of Excellence for Green Energy and Sensor Systems (CEGESS), Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur to establish a state-of-the-art Solar Photovoltaic Hub in the IIEST campus.
• The DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub aims at establishing a state-of-the-art facility of fabrication and characterization of industry-compatible solar cells and solar photovoltaic systems, initiating cutting edge research in the different fields of solar energy and providing quality postgraduate and doctoral education in Renewable Energy Science and Technology.
• The research and education at CEGESS is closely associated with the industry and several national and international academic institutions of repute with an aim to foster cutting edge research and establish India as a leader in this field.
• Photovoltaic technology has emerged as the most promising and sustainable technology to meet the ever-increasing energy demand of modern civilization and thus world-wide research activities are going on for the development of this technology.

5. Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA)

Context:

Eighteen more individuals declared as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

To read all about the UAPA, click on the linked article.

6. DPE Facility at Port

Context:

Union Minister of State for Shipping inaugurates ‘Direct Port Entry Facility’ at V.O. Chidambaranar port.

Benefits of DPE Facility:

• The Direct Port Entry (DPE) Facility would enable the direct movement of containers from factories, without intermediate handling at any Container Freight Station (CFS), thus facilitating the shippers to gate-in their factory stuffed exports directly to the Container Terminal on a 24×7 basis.
• Indian Customs through the Central Warehousing Corporation, DPE facility will generate the Let Export Order (LEO) under a single roof without any hassle.

About the V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust:

• The V. O. Chidambaranar Port Trust is an artificial deep-sea harbour formed with rubble mound type parallel breakwaters projecting into the sea up to 4 km.
• Located in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin), the port is strategically situated in the Gulf of Mannar, with Sri Lanka on its southeast and the large Indian landmass on the west.
• It is also close to the east-west international sea route on the Coromandel Coast.
• O. Chidambaranar Port Trust is the only port in South India to provide a direct weekly container service to the United States.
• The port is well sheltered from the fury of storms and cyclonic winds and is operational throughout the year.
• Formerly called the Tuticorin Port Trust, it is one of the 13 major ports in India.
• It is the fourth-largest container terminal in India.
• The modern port was opened in 1974 and is named after freedom fighter V O Chidambaram Pillai.
• Historically, the earliest mention of the Tuticorin port was made in 88 AD in Greek sources. The region was famous for pearl fisheries and trading in pearls.

Also read: Major ports in India

7. National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET)

Context:

The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and NCVET unveil the new guidelines and operation manuals for Awarding Bodies and Assessment Agencies for further strengthening the skilling ecosystem.

About NCVET:

• NCVET was notified by the MSDE in December 2018.
• NCVET subsumed the existing skill regulatory bodies – National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) & National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and now acts as an overarching skills regulator.
• It was operationalized in November 2019 through the assumption of additional charge by Secretary, MSDE and Senior Economic Advisor, MSDE as Chairperson, NCVET and Executive Member, NCVET respectively.
• It establishes minimum standards for the functioning of entities engaged in vocational education and training.
• The major functions of NCVET are the recognition and regulation of awarding bodies, assessment agencies, and skill related information providers; approval of qualifications; monitoring and supervision of recognized entities and grievance redressal.
• The NCVET will enable the integration of the fragmented regulatory system and infuse quality assurance across the entire vocational training value chain, leading to better outcomes.

8. IndiGen programme

Context:

CSIR reveals 32% unique genetic variants in India.

Details:

• CSIR IndiGenome resource of 1029 Indian genomes provides a compendium of genetic variants representing the contemporary Indian population.
• Results from the extensive computation analysis of the 1029 sequenced genomes from India carried out by CSIR constituent-labs were published in the scientific journal, Nucleic Acid Research.
  • The labs involved are CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.

The study:

• The analysis led to the identification of 55,898,122 single nucleotide variants in the India genome dataset.
• Comparisons with the global genome datasets revealed that 18,016,257 (32.23%) variants were unique and found only in the samples sequenced from India.
• This emphasizes the need for an India centric population genomics initiative.
• Benefits:
  • The current IndiGenomes data resource provides a compendium of genetic variants representing the contemporary Indian population with an objective to classify variants involved in Mendelian disorders and improve precision medicine outcomes.
  • The resource can also enable the identification of markers for carrier screening, variations causing genetic diseases, prevention of adverse events and provide better diagnosis and optimal therapy through mining data of clinically actionable pharmacogenetic variants.

IndiGen Program

• In order to fill the gap of whole-genome sequences from different populations in India, CSIR initiated the IndiGen Program in April 2019.
• Under this program, the whole genome sequencing of 1029 self-declared healthy Indians drawn from across the country has been completed.
• This has enabled benchmarking the scalability of genome sequencing at a population scale in a defined timeline.
• Funded by CSIR, the IndiGen program aims to create a pilot dataset to enable genetic epidemiology of carrier genetic diseases towards enabling affordable carrier screening approaches in India.

Read previous PIB here.

October 27th, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here